Since we've spent most of the past two years exploring how physical world religions are manifesting in virtual spaces, I was keenly interested to read this reference in Wagner Au's New World Notes about an event this Sunday around a religion borne of a virtual world:
[A]t 2PM there will be a St. Torley Day service at The First Church of Rosedale (Immersionist), which is devoted to the worship of Philip Linden, founder of Linden Lab. Services are held on occasional Sundays and those of all colors, sizes, furs, and historical eras are welcome. (The Church is located on Zindra, so you'll need to be adult-verified or have payment information on file to attend.) In Rhianna. [SLurl teleport at this link]I Twittered to Wagner that I thought he buried the lede on this one. The real story was: An actual religion built around Philip Rosedale the founder of Second Life. Wagner replied in Twitter that shrines had been built to Philip since 2003 but he wasn't sure when Philip got a full-fledged theology.
The actual lede of the story is that the religion has its first saint -- prolific Second Life community guru Torley Linden, who churns out very helpful instructional videos at an astonishing paces. (Torley seems eminently worthy of sainthood for his tireless efforts to help the Second Life community better understand how to use the software.)
Since we'll be unable to attend the festivities on Sunday, and because our curiosity was piqued beyond resistance, we paid a visit to the First Church of Rosedale. Images follow.
At the entrance to the Church of Rosedale
Inside the sanctuary.
Eureka Dejavu (DIP's Rita J. King) and I sit for a moment next to the new stained glass window for Saint Torley.UPDATE: Reader Dale Innis refers us to Samantha Poindexter, the founder of the Church of Rosedale. Apparently it was founded in 2007. From the site:
The First Church of Rosedale (Immersionist) is devoted to the worship of Philip Linden, known in First Life as Philip Rosedale, founder of Linden Lab. It is believed to be the first church devoted to a Second-Life-centric religion. It was founded in Caledon Penzance in late 2007, and held its first services January 6, 2008. It moved to Phasma in early 2009 before getting transported to Rhianna in the Rapture. Services are held on occasional Sundays, and those of all colors, sizes, furs, and historical eras are welcome.
7 comments:
You should talk to Samantha for the history of the Church:
http://samanthapoindexter.wordpress.com/
It's not all *that* new! Although I suppose as religions go it is...
Is it "an actual religion"? I think everyone gets to decide that for themselves. :)
Thanks Dale! So updated!
I missed this post the first time around and just ran across it. Chimera attended church here on St. Torley Day in 2008 and also his Rez Day Party afterwards where he made an appearance for the fireworks. I believe she has a Hymnal squirreled away somewhere in inventory. heheh
See evidence:
Chimera's Alt attends a service Church of Rosedale service at the original location in Nov. 08
http://www.koinup.com/ChimeraCosmos/work/90102/
Torley's Rez Day Party Sept. 08
http://www.koinup.com/ChimeraCosmos/work/67773/
Thanks Chimera! I wonder what's going to happen to the church now that Philip has "moved on"?
We first faced that question when Philip Rosedale the Father moved from CEO to Chairman. The present situation isn't much different; He's still Chairman, after all.
Our take is that Philip is still the Alpha and the Omega, the Prime Mover, and the possessor of the grid's most manifestly divine hair. If the age when Our Lord directly intervened in the world has given way to one where He stays more in the background and appears to let the grid hum along on its own... well, we have that in common with a lot of religions.
(What to do with M Linden is a more interesting question, and one that could potentially lead to our first schism.)
Please do IM me if you see me on, by the way. I'd be happy to discuss all this further. :-)
Oh, and you might also like to check out The Cult of Ruth Eternal™, which has a more fleshed out cosmology than we do. (I suppose they're the competition, but we're on friendly terms.)
What's the name of the sect of the Church of Rosedale that regards M as the Evil Anti-Philip? I'm sorta tending in that direction, myself...
Speaking as a private person, I have similar feelings, Dale; it's taken a bit of effort to keep from calling M the Antiphil from the pulpit. We may yet go that route, but for now I'm trying to keep the church more open to a wider spectrum of viewpoints. It's enough to accept Philip; all else is up to you.
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